Britain is an island of contentment in an EU driven by Brussels to populist revolt

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In Sweden, the Sweden Democrats could come first in elections today – they have a past as a far-right partyCredit:
JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/ AFP

It’s happening during an upswing – that’s what’s so startling. From the Mediterranean to the Arctic Circle, Europe’s populists are winning elections. If they can do this well when incomes are rising, imagine how they’ll do when the downturn comes.

One of the stranger consequences of Brexit is that we have taken our eye off what is happening across the Channel. Absorbed in our own quarrels, we are only vaguely aware of the whirlwind of anti-EU and anti-immigration movements across the Continent.